More than six years after a complaint was sent to the city about now Aberdeen mayoral candidate Douglas Orr living in the upstairs of his own building, the city of Aberdeen made a more recent response — on Oct. 2.

The Oct. 2 letter the city of Aberdeen sent to Orr states the letter is because of a “failure to comply with letter dated May 17, 2017.” Orr owns the building at 200 W. Market, which is home to the Aberdeen Art Center.

The Oct. 2 letter, “Notice to abate from unsafe or unlawful condition” — from Bill Sidor, assistant community development director for the city of Aberdeen, is as follows:

“It has been brought to the attention of Code Enforcement that you have been living in your building which is in violation of the terms as outlined in the letter (enclosed) and subsequent notices that were sent to you on May 17, May 23, and June 5, 2017 from then Asst. Fire Chief/Fire Marshall, Rich Malizia. The letters were reference to the application for permit #2017-0526.”

The letter explains the “application for the permit was denied as submitted due to the requirements under the fire code reference the change of occupancy and the separation requirements between the potential residential portion and the retail portions of the building. The letter further states that the requirements under permit #2014-0134 have not been completed.”

The letter continues with potential action from the city.

“The city at this time is requesting that you contact the building department by October 9, 2023,” the letter states. “And set up an appointment to meet with the building official Jon Chum and the fire marshal, Ryan Knodel, to do a walkthrough of the building to ascertain whether the items under permit #2014-0134 have been met.”

Then the letter notes what Orr would receive if he did not comply with the letter.

“Be advised the failure to (1) Comply with the notice and order, (2) submit a written request for a hearing to show why the notice and order should not be complied with by the date and time set forth, will result in the abatement of the condition at your expense or the issuance of a citation pursuant to the authority granted by Aberdeen Municipal Code Section 8.08.030.,” the letter states. “Failure to request a hearing waives all rights to contest the notice and order.”

The question remains, why is this news almost six-and-a-half years later?

Multiple private residents brought up the issue, and then the city took action with the Oct. 2 letter. A few weeks later, a private resident shared Sidor’s letter with the newspaper. That’s when The Daily World got involved.

A few weeks prior to the newspaper’s interest, Steve Heywood, an Aberdeen resident, sent the following to The Daily World on Oct. 1. His email made the newspaper aware of the situation. Here’s a bulleted list of his actions and points, with quotations showing Heywood’s words:

Heywood sent documents to the city of Aberdeen on Sept. 28, 2023

Heywood stated — “the building that Doug Orr lives in has been denied residential status by the city of Aberdeen Fire Department, which was documented on 5/17/2017”

Heywood stated — “Douglas wrote a letter to the city of Aberdeen on 8/22/2017 stating that he would not live in his building as he understood that this would be in violation of the fire code and that he would simply use the building as an art studio.”

Heywood stated — “Douglas lives on the second floor of the building and has for years, he openly informs people of this fact this means that he is committing city ordinance violation as well as committing violations of fire code it also puts him in the fraud category when it comes to insurance matters and banking matters. If there were to be a fire in the building on 200 West Market in Aberdeen it would not be covered by insurance as there is no sprinkler system as required by law.”

Heywood’s letter continues with what he states was a comment by Aberdeen Fire Chief Dave Golding.

According to Heywood’s letter to the newspaper, Golding stated: “Council Member (Kacey Ann) Morrison: Thank you for your message. In my time as the fire marshal and now fire chief, I am not aware of any complaints received by the Aberdeen Fire Department concerning this occupancy. I do recall then Fire Marshal Rich Malizia mentioning this building at that time and the issues pertaining to a needed fire sprinkler system if a residential occupancy was to be included on the second floor. I have not been party to any follow up conversations since then. I have forwarded this information to our current fire marshal, Assistant Chief Knodel for his information and follow up with Code Enforcement. If you have any questions please feel free to give me a call anytime.”

Heywood sent another email to The Daily World on Oct. 2. That email contained much of the same content, so much so it was practically a copy of the Oct. 1 email.

Since Orr is running for mayor and the election is Nov. 7, why act more than six years after the initial complaint?

City Administrator Ruth Clemens explained why the city got involved. It doesn’t sound as though there’s much concern, if any from the city.

“The city received a complaint from an anonymous person requesting the city follow up on a building code violation involving Mr. Orr,” Clemens stated. “Mr. Orr has been cooperative throughout this whole process. He is working with city officials to resolve the unaddressed issues, so at this point, there are no issues because he’s been working with the city the whole step of the way.”

Clemens said the complaint came “some weeks ago from an anonymous person.”

According to Clemens, the most recent complaint came at the end of September.

“I can’t comment on why the city has not addressed it until now because I was not here,” said Clemens, who started as city administrator in Oct. 2022. “The city responded because we received a complaint. There has been a lot of staffing changes since 2017, so current staff are now tasked with addressing these types of issues.”

As far as the complaints the private residents brought up, plus the city’s letter, The Daily World contacted both Orr for his response, as well as two city officials for their responses. The city officials were Lisa Scott, community development director, and Jon Chum, the city’s building official. Orr was the only one to respond.

Orr’s response on Oct. 27 is as follows:

“I met with fire and building and I explained that I thought that we were waiting for the building to be paid off in 11 months so that we could afford to install a sprinkler system,” Orr stated. “I was well aware that I couldn’t get the apartment certified to rent out, but that was never my desire. The living space I’m building is my final home. When I was suddenly laid off from my job at the Ocean Shores Chamber of Commerce I could no longer afford to rent the house in Hoquiam that we were living in while I built he apartment, so I had to move into my building. I realize that the apartment wasn’t yet finished and certified as a residential unit, but since I had no intention of renting the unit out I didn’t think that I had to have it certified for me to live in my own building.”

Orr explained about work he had done to the building.

“Before the fire department had me stop work on the apartment I had already had the final framing, plumbing and electrical inspections,” Orr’s response stated. “The only thing left to do was the two-hour fire separation to separate the apartment from the commercial spaces and to finish the attic insulation to make the unit comply. So, now we will not be adding the sprinkler system that we were waiting to do. Instead, we will add some two-hour rated doors and a second layer of (five-eighths) drywall on the ceiling of the first floor over the old lath and plaster to get the two-hour fire separation.”

Orr then spoke about newer details.

“City building department and fire department are working together to come up with a new plan,” Orr’s response stated. “Most likely I’ll reopen the old permit, or get a new one and finish the last step so that the apartment will be in compliance and rentable should we ever leave. There is no fire safety issue in the building. This apartment has had permits for the work, it has hardwired fire and carbon monoxide detectors, it has fire extinguishers in every room as well as legal egress windows in the bedroom. Part of the two-hour fire separation is already completed. This building is safer than most buildings downtown and I would say it is safer than any of the other buildings downtown that have people living in them.”

Then Orr, who’s in the final few days of his campaign for Aberdeen mayor, included more details.

“Finally, I am not the only building owner downtown living in my building,” Orr’s response detailed. “Unless I choose to rent the space out, which I do not, I don’t see how I am hurting anyone. I believe that if there weren’t a bunch of folks out there who would go to any lengths to keep me from being this city’s next mayor then this issue wouldn’t be an issue.”

As of Wednesday afternoon, no one from the city, except for Golding and Clemens, had responded. The Daily World emailed Scott and Chum on Oct. 23. The paper then contacted Scott and Chum again on Tuesday. It also sent the same email to Clemens, Sidor, and Knodel. The questions were asking “What’s the problem?” “Is there still a problem?” “Who made the complaint? When?” “Does Doug Orr still live here and if so, is Orr’s living situation a problem as far as the city is concerned?” and “Why did the city respond with this letter more than six years after a complaint that was initially lodged in 2017?’

As of Wednesday afternoon, The Daily World had received no comment except from Golding and Clemens. The fire chief’s comment on Nov. 1 explains the fire code:

“As I do not want to comment on this particular situation as it is currently being addressed through code enforcement, I can only speak in general terms,” Golding said. “The Fire Code requires that a building that contains different classes of occupancies with one of those being a residential occupancy have either an automatic fire sprinkler system or by separated by a two-hour fire wall. This requirement is rooted in providing for the life safety of the residents living in these types of mixed-use occupancies.”

Contact Reporter Matthew N. Wells at matthew.wells@thedailyworld.com.